The use of the Internet and World Wide Web are becoming increasingly popular for commercial transactions. There are a number of ideas, including patented inventions, which are directed to the idea of buying and selling goods and services over the Internet. In particular, there are now a number of websites that facilitate Internet shopping.
In general, there are three methods for conducting commercial transactions over the Internet: auction-based, lowest price searching, and offers to purchase.
The first method, auction-based, generally comprises a website used to arbitrate bids and generate sales through a competitive offers from multiple prospective purchasers. An example of an auction-based website may be found at www.ebay.com.
The second method, lowest price searching, involves a method whereby the purchaser utilizes a website and a search engine to traverse multiple websites searching for the lowest price for the goods or services sought to be purchased. Alternatively, there are many websites devoted to commercial transactions that list different sites to inform purchasers as to which providers are offering the best deal. Examples of lowest price searching web sites include www.pricewatch.com and www.shopper.com.
The third method, offers to purchase, involves websites which accept offers from the prospective purchaser and either agree to sell the goods or services based on that price or reject the offer, requesting a higher price from the purchaser. An example of this type of purchasing can be seen at www.priceline.com. Descriptions of search techniques and auction methods may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,897,620; 6,041,326; and 6,058,417, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
There are a number of disadvantages for the purchaser who uses the methods of the current art. The auction-based method often results in a purchase predicated on a bid from the consumer where the bid is actually higher than sales prices posted on web sites offering direct (non-auction) purchase of the same item. Additionally, the auction-based methods generally offer goods and services from a single or limited number of sources, thus limiting the purchaser's supply options. Finally, the auction-based methods result in an upward spiral of the purchase price of an item during the bidding process, thus resulting in a transaction that favors the seller, not the purchaser.
The lowest price searching method discloses an arbitrary price posted by a vendor without any ability on the part of the purchaser to negotiate a lower price. Additionally, use of this method forecloses the possibility of obtaining a more favorable price through an auction process.
The offer to purchase method restricts the purchaser to one source of items, thus excluding sources that might accept a lower offer from the purchaser. Also, a purchaser using this method does not necessarily have knowledge of posted advertised prices from other sources, and thus submits an offer higher in price than the price advertised by the other sources.
What is needed therefore is a method and system for purchasing goods and services via the Internet, wherein the purchaser obtains pricing information for an item from a broad selection of vendors offering that item; determines a lowest price from the obtained pricing information, and negotiates a final purchase price lower than the lowest price obtained in the pricing information, thus gaining the ability to purchase the item at the lowest price possible in a broad market scheme.